Bryn Davies
@daviesofbrixton.bsky.social
Trade union actuary; currently a Labour Party member of the House of Lords
EXCLUSIVE: Inside Croydon goes in search of the 'real' Andy Burnham insidecroydon.com/2026/10/01/i... #Croydon #Labour #Burnham @adambienkov.bsky.social @left-foot-forward.bsky.social
Inside Croydon goes in search of the ‘real’ Andy Burnham
ANDREW FISHER has spent the week at the Labour Party Annual Conference in Liverpool, where the new Prime Minister continued to confound political editors and expert pundits A Blairite, a Brownite a…
insidecroydon.com
The best advertisement for social care and pensions we've had this year henrytapper.com/2026/10/01/t... This is great. Excellent to have someone like Yvette Cooper on board.
The best advertisement for social care and pensions we’ve had this year
This is great. Excellent to have someone like Yvette Cooper on board.
henrytapper.com
@morganvine.bsky.social gets it spot on. The real debate now is what is the right level for the State Pension. It should not be based just on what it happens to be in 2030.
Independent Age@independentage.bsky.social · 2d agoDirector of Policy & Influencing @morganvine.bsky.social joined BBC Breakfast this AM to respond to the PM's proposal for a State Pension double lock. Every day we hear from older people struggling to make ends meet. With any changes, we must ensure pensioners have the income they need to live well
This is getting bonkers! The idea that social care could be funded by scrapping the triple-lock makes no sense. We simply don’t know what abolition would save, if anything at all, apart from some speculative figures from the OBR. We do know that a social care service will be expensive.
Speculation in the FT about abolition of the triple-lock. What it doesn’t say is that the main political problem faced by arguments for abolishing the triple lock is that it doesn’t save any money over the period up to the next election.
So much of the right these days have a massive patriotism problem. This guy: - is a tax exile (left long before this govt) - hates his own country while complaining he doesn’t get big enough subsidies from it - laments the manufacturing hit from a Brexit he supported www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
bbc.co.uk
Okay. Rephrase my question. For me the question to ask about John Healey as CEx is would he have spotted the political bear-trap posed by the Winter Fuel Payment? More broadly, have the welfare hawks learnt any lessons?
For me the question to ask about Shabana Mahmood as potential CEx is would she have spotted the political bear-trap posed by the Winter Fuel Payment? More broadly, have the welfare hawks learnt any lessons?
Spent a lot of time recently looking at pensions of relatively modest earners in quite economically important sectors. Loads on auto-enrolment minimum contributions or close to it. The state pension is going to be a (the?) major chunk of their income. The attacks on it on so wrong-headed.
Am I the first to coin the term Burhamsplaining? The desire by commentators to tell someone who has accomplished the most stunning political coup of recent times how he is still getting it wrong.
I hold no brief for Hunter Biden but his conclusions from the NY Democratic primaries are worth reading with relevance to the UK.
You know you have a problem when they have to extend the scale.
Emma Monk@monkemma.bsky.social · 3mo agoYes, 1976 was an exceptional year - which is why everyone remembers it. Britain had a uniquely hot summer. Against a backdrop of reasonable global temperatures. That's not where we're at now! They've since had to extend the scale from 4.1°C anomaly to 8.8°C!👇 7/
Three economists with no connection with the Labour movement urge Andy Burnham to repeat the Winter Fuel Payment disaster. www.thetimes.com/article/98cb...
Andy Burnham’s advisers back scrapping pension triple lock
A group of leading economists working on potential policies believe it’s a ‘no-brainer’ to abandon the pledge and replace it with a more affordable alternative
thetimes.com
Devoured by private equity. Bernard Matthews Body Shop Byron Burger Casual Dining Cath Kidson Claire’s Comet Debenhams Flybe Four Seasons Health Care Homebase Maplin Thousands of jobs lost, supply chains destroyed, creditors not paid, pension rights lost, taxes dodged. Yet govts venerate PE.
The finance curse is devouring the UK
Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. Th...
leftfootforward.org
🧵 With a leadership contest apparently imminent, it got me thinking about the first Labour leadership campaign I worked on … No, not Jeremy Corbyn in 2015, but nine years earlier – the John4Leader campaign, which began in 2006 shortly after Blair had set a timetable for his departure ... 1/n
Prima facie evidence of why Trump had to file for bankruptcy four times whilst running a casino…
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo agoRFK Jr: "A Democratic senator claimed it's mathematically impossible to have a drug drop by 600%. I said, 'Well, if the drug was $100 and it raises to $600, that would be a 600% rise. If it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600% savings.'" Trump: "Right"
Feeling aggrieved at having to wait five minutes for a train at Brixton tube station.
I’m receiving lots of posts on my timeline about both Traitors and Greenland. It’s difficult, initially at least, to know which is which.
The problem with a seasonal epidemic is that it's way too easy to write a sexy "flu numbers twice as bad as last year" headline, which is true but misleading, when you ought to be writing a "flu arrives a little earlier than last year" headline.
Stuart McDonald@actuarybyday.bsky.social · 10mo agoI've got to say, I'm not sure why this has become such a big media story. I might be wrong but my current view is that it's overblown. Flu arrived early, which is why it's breaking 'time of year' records, but it's only in the medium threshold and could peak lower than last year, let alone 2022-23.
Good news for the supporters of CDC pensions with the nomination of David Pitt-Watson to the House of Lords. David has been one of the most active proponents of CDC and chair of the www.thersa.org/projects/col...
Collective Defined Contribution Pensions Forum
Read about the RSA's CDC Pensions Forum which supports the policy implementation and regulation of CDC pension schemes.
thersa.org
Very good report about joint Prospect and FDA letter to civil service pension scheme manager about closing the unacceptable gender pension gap in that scheme: www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article...
Unions call for action on civil service ‘gender pension gap’
Ministers urged to adopt best practice from elsewhere in the public sector to drive Civil Service Pension Scheme reform
civilserviceworld.com
Big news. Report stage of Pension Schemes Bill, the Minister announces, in response to the “Byrne amendment” they will introduce legislation on how trustees should allow for structural factors such as climate risk and members’ standards of living when they are making investment decisions.
The announcement that the GLA will use the GLC coat of arms is great news, recognising the continuity of London local government and the importance of the GLC and its achievements. See www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the...
The King grants the Mayor of London permission to use the GLC’s historic coat of arms
The King has commanded that the Greater London Authority (GLA) shall be allowed to use the coat of arms that once belonged to its predecessor, the GLC.
ianvisits.co.uk
Resolution Foundation does some great, informative stuff on policy/politics. Really welcome antidote to the breathless obsession of most of Westminster village with who-said-whattery-when and meaningless opinion poll speculation about the next election. @resolutionfoundation.org
Resolution Foundation@resolutionfoundation.org · 10mo agoIs welfare spending ''out of control''? It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year. That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
The FT reports that the Chancellor said the government would make sure those only receiving the basic or new state pension “do not have to pay small amounts of tax through Simple Assessment from April 2027”. Easily said but harder to deliver. The problem is with the word “only”. 1/3
The problem posed by frozen tax thresholds being overtaken by index linked state pensions is to be tackled by the government via “Simple Assessment” from 2027-28 onwards. It will be “exploring the best way to achieve this”.
Strong welcome for indexation of pre-97 accrued benefits in PPF and FAS. Puts more pressure on other DB schemes to do likewise, with amendments to Pension Schemes Bill.
